Plotting Your Book: Hint at Story’s Theme in Opening Lines
Even the most action-packed, blood-and-gore story has some message or point. A proposition that is argued or an aspect of human experience that is examined in your story is its theme. For example, the theme of the novel Moby Dick is revenge and obsession. Those dual passions and their costs are explored as Captain Ahab hunts and tries to destroy the great white whale that bit off his leg. You want to hint at your theme on your opening page. READ MORE
Self-Publishing Tip: How to Design Your Ebook Cover
Most potential readers of your ebook will first encounter it online as an image – the book’s cover. If that thumbnail doesn’t cause viewers to take a closer look at the accompanying text descriptions of your book, you are farther away from making a sale. How do you create an ebook cover? My new book Design Your Ebook Cover answers that question. Using easy to understand and short explanations, it describes what software/apps you need, moves on to the cover’s various elements, and finally looks at uploading it to a print on demand company like Kindle Direct Publishing. SEE BOOK
Writing Tip: Show Don’t Tell when Writing Story Dialogue
All too often, new writers fall into the error of telling instead of showing. This occurs, for example, when the narrator states how character feels rather than using concrete details from which the feeling can be inferred. READ MORE
Self-Publishing Tip: How to Create Your Book’s Table of Contents
Though the table of contents is one of the first pages readers will see, it’s one of the last you’ll actually complete. Because it must perfectly match the names of your various sections and chapters, as well as have the correct page numbers (if doing a print book anyway), it is always in flux as you write and format the book. READ MORE
This Week’s Podcast: How to Write an Author’s Bio
One page you’ll want on a website promoting your book is an “About the Author.” Readers love to learn more about the author of a book they’re reading. If writing a nonfiction book, the author’s bio helps establish you as a qualified expert to write about your book’s topic, encouraging potential readers to purchase your writing. Finally, it gives the media information to add to any articles or blog entries about you. LISTEN TO PODCAST
Book Marketing Tip: Increase Book Sales by Giving Away First in Series
If you’ve written a series of novels about a single character, one way to improve sales is to give the first volume away for free. This may seem counterintuitive, but for self-published writers, it’s a great way to get your book in front of more eyeballs. READ MORE
Client Spotlight: “Somewhere Else” by Joe Robinson
Life has brought Ed Wilson to a point he never would have anticipated, and he’s not particularly pleased with the present state of affairs. A middle-aged municipal lawyer, many things peeve him: the bureaucratic fog of city government; his ex-wife who moved out after twenty years of marriage; a bizarre controversy that engulfs his daughter in college; and, most troubling of all, the irremediable plight of his mother, resident of a nearby memory care facility. Filled with humor, insight and heart, Somewhere Else is a moving exploration of loss, acceptance, and second chances. CHECK IT OUT
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of both aspiring and published writers and offers a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of a novel, the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, four children’s books, more than 25 bestselling hiking guidebooks, and even a book of poetry. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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